Reaction Mixed on Normalizing Vietnam Ties

The American Legion on Wednesday blasted the Bush Administration’s move toward normal relations with Vietnam as a “tragedy,” but other veterans groups gave cautious approval and said that they welcome the conditions set by Secretary of State James A. Baker III.

Reaction from key members of Congress also was mixed, reflecting divisions that still linger in the nation nearly two decades after the Vietnam War ended.

Dominic D. DiFrancesco, the American Legion’s national commander, charged that by recognizing Vietnam, the United States would lose all its leverage for resolving the issue of prisoners of war and of those missing in action.

“I fear that normalization with Vietnam will allow that country’s leaders to get away with ignoring their agreements under the Paris Peace Accords of 1973,” DiFrancesco said.

Sen. Robert C. Smith (R-N.H.), vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on POW-MIA Affairs, also was critical of the Administration’s “road map” to normal relations with Vietnam.

“This road map is dangerously flawed,” said Smith, a Vietnam veteran. “It is vague and neglects to tell the Vietnamese exactly what cooperation is expected from them to resolve the POW-MIA issue.

“As currently written, the plan lets both Vietnam and Laos off the hook in accounting for hundreds of POWs known to have been captured in Laos.”

Support for the U.S. move came from the Vietnam Veterans of America, the Disabled American Veterans and the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia.

Officials said that they back preliminary talks because Baker has promised that the “scope and pace” will be “governed by” Vietnamese cooperation on the POW-MIA issue.

James L. Brazee, president of the Vietnam Veterans of America, said that “for years, VVA has advocated an open dialogue with the government of Vietnam with the stated goal of obtaining full accountability of our missing servicemen. While we are optimistic about Secretary Baker’s initiative, we want to make sure that the horse remains before the cart.”

Noting that his group had sent several delegations to Vietnam to press for information, Brazee said: “Government-to-government contacts and negotiations are the keys to ending the POW-MIA nightmare.”

Ann Mills Griffiths, executive director of the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia, said that the Administration’s plan for moving toward normalization holds “the potential for dramatic results but only if implemented with integrity by both governments.”

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a former Navy flier who spent nearly six years in North Vietnamese prison camps, called Baker’s announcement of imminent talks “an important signal of encouragement to move this process along as rapidly as possible.”